Random Thoughts

I know we have a "big" series coming up with the Mets. We also had a tough trip to the West Coast. Due to all kinds of circumstances, my Phillies-viewing is at just about an all-time low. Therefore, I am largely not commenting on those games since I know little about them. It's also tough to comment too much on this Mets series since I have not been watching. Although it does seem that nobody has had a chance to watch our offense any time recently (with the exception of the last 3 innings of the Giants series)

With all of that said, here are just a few random notes about the Phillies or baseball in general:

- Trivia question: What is the past tense of the word "fly?" (answer below)

- The Mets are currently in first place with our beloved Phils in 2nd. As long as this is the case, I will actually be referring to the Phillies as being in first place. Recent history tells us the Mets are far too hysterically bad to have a shot at finishing in first place. Therefore, we are in first

- I now know what we are missing out on in terms of a broadcast team. Spending 4 days in Virginia and watching some Nationals games, I got to listen to Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble. The beautiful relationship between these two men made me want to be a Nationals fan. First of all, they are both there through the whole game. I don't know why the Phillies insist on doing some type of awkward tag teaming throughout a game. Probably to eliminate any flow. Or else to let Christopher Wheeler look up answers to trivia questions for 3 innings. Aside from that, it just seems like Bob and Rob are two Nationals fans talking about the game together. I don't know about everyone else, but I would like to hear a little bit of bias while watching my hometown team on my hometown station. It makes games more exciting and makes you feel like a part of the conversation.

- If you could only have one current Phillies player for the next 5 years, who would you pick? Jeremiah and I recently held a fantasy baseball draft with a few special stipulations. I'll tell you about that on another day I'm sure, but this draft really made me think about which player would be the most valuable for the next 5 seasons. It seems like you could really count on Chase Utley because it just always seems like you can count on him. Ryan Howard seems very important to the front office judging by his contract, but is he the one player they would pick if they could only have one? Roy Halladay is fantastic, but do we have to worry about him in 5 years when he is 37 years old? Shane Victorino is our youngest position player at 29. Does he do enough to make him worth 5 years and no other players? I have no idea what the heck Cole Hamels will do in his next start, much less the next 5 years. Something to consider

- Apparently the Phillies really do want to keep Jayson Werth around after this season. I wonder how difficult that is going to be, though. Werth is going to want some serious money, especially considering the money given to Jason Bay by the Mets who, I would say, is nowhere near as good as Werth as an all-around player. I wonder how much the Phillies are willing to spend. We are now at the point of selling out every single home game. Between that and $15 for parking (unbelievable, right?!), they've gotta have some spare cash laying around to give him somewhere close to what he wants. It is very true that we need a right-handed bat in our lineup, and without him, we would obviously be lacking one. I would rather pay him more than get someone to replace him that is not a true "Phillie"

- Speaking of "Phillie," is the singular form of "Phillies" really "Phillie?" With pluralization rules, could we not also assume that a single Phillies player is a "Philly?" Everyone assumes the i-e, but if you were to make "Philly" plural, it would also be "Phillies." Who thinks of these things?

- I do. As evidenced in the trivia question. The answer: flew. However, what does a baseball announcer say when someone flies out? "Howard flied out to deep right in his last at-bat." Flied, not flew. So here is how awesome baseball is:
According to dictionary.com, there are 32 definitions for "fly." The past tense is most definitely "flew" for 30 of these. There are only 2 definitions of fly that have the past tense "flied." One of them is related to theater or something. The other is specifically for a fly out in baseball. Awesome

- Speaking of how awesome baseball is, I love random baseball stats that have to be made up. There are so many different statistics in baseball that, if I did not watch basically every Phillies game, I would be convinced that they literally played half of their games on paper. Every single situation you can ever imagine happening has happened at some point in the history of this game. If, at any point in this season, you see that something has happened for the first time, please please please tell me. So then I can choose not to believe you. So here is an awesome stat I heard not too long ago, a perfect example of everything happening in baseball:
The Braves got no-hit by the Rockies on April 17. On April 18, they beat the Rockies on a walk-off single by Jason Heyward.
This was the first time that the Braves* had a walk-off win the day after being no-hit since 1951.**

*Yes, this is specific enough to only apply to the Braves, not baseball in general
**Yes, this has actually happened before. With this team.